Plane crash kills 4 after pi­lot suf­fers heart at­tack

GUTHRIE CEN­TER, Iowa — A small plane crashed in cen­tral Iowa, killing all four peo­ple on board, after the pi­lot ap­par­ently had a heart at­tack and a stu­dent pi­lot was go­ing to at­tempt an emer­gency land­ing, au­thor­i­ties said Satur­day.

The plane dropped off radar Fri­day night about 4 miles from Guthrie Cen­ter air­port, the Guthrie County Sher­iff’s Of­fice said in a news re­lease.

Searchers found the wreck­age Satur­day morn­ing in a cow pas­ture south­west of Guthrie Cen­ter, which is about 115 miles south­west of Le Mars, where the plane had taken off.

The 1979 Piper sin­gleengine plane was headed to Osce­ola, south of Des Moines, when the Des Moines Air Traf­fic Con­trol re­quested an emer­gency land­ing for it at the Guthrie Cen­ter air­port, the sher­iff ’s of­fice said.